An Empire of Lesions
by Illmanir
Summary: Kreia's warnings about the unkown threat still ring in the Exile's mind. Now, as a Master of the Force, the Exile seeks to protect the galaxy in his own way. DSM
1. Prologue: The Master Departs

Prologue:

**Disclaimer: I don't own rights to Star Wars, nor do I intend to profit from this work of fiction.**

**Prologue:**

**The Master departs**

The always savage energy that permeated Malachor V was replaced by an unusual listlessness, as if the planet had finally released the tortured souls that still haunted its many ruins. Within the Trayus academy the mood was much the same, as a small group of its students gathered at the proving grounds.

"He betrayed us, I can sense it. He took us to the edge of the galaxy and just abandoned us," Atton implicated with a hint of anger.

Brianna offered an argument, "We don't know that, he could have…"

"What? Gone to buy us a few drinks? He's not coming back."

"You dare call him a betrayer Atton? You were a whining, yelping dog when he met you, now you're a wolf with sharp teeth…" Brianna hesitated as Atton eyed her with a savage look, that forbidding look of a murderer.

She continued carefully undeterred, "He has shown you power, power you wouldn't have arrived at on your own, remember that when you make your accusations."

Atton wasn't at all surprised that Brianna's was patronizing him, but he hated to be lectured.

He walked up to the short-haired echani, his nostrils flaring close to her face, "And I assume you are the expert at judging the meaning of his actions, the one who understands his intentions?" he paused, "I would be willing to believe you, if your perception was not hindered by your lust for the Master."

Brianna's white face turned red, she clenched her gloved fists, trying to control an impulse to jump at Atton's neck.

"You say these things, thinking yourself clever Atton, but you only show your foolishness. I will not fall into your trap, or permit your unfounded accusations of the master…."

"I do not need permission from naïve, obnoxious…."

"I think we have heard enough from the both of you on this matter," Visas intervened, "You're both wasting breathe, we need to discover the reason for our master's disappearance, not bicker like children."

Brianna and Atton calmed down a little bit, both a little embarrassed by their arguing and insults.

"I've been thinking," Bao-Dur commented, "we need to check the Republic freighter's logs and maybe scan the ship's T3 N3 astromech droid for any messages. We might find something concerning the General."

"Yes, that's what I feel we should do, I'm hoping that no one destroyed any useful information," Visas agreed.

"There is something else." Mira spoke at last. "The Holocrons - at least the more important ones from the archive room - are gone."

Shock and anger permeated through them, only Bao-Dur looked expressionless.

"Most unfortunate," Bao-Dur murmured.

Of all the members of the party that had proclaimed followers of the the Exile and his mentoring, Bao Dur had shown the least interest in the force teachings of the Trayus Academy.

"Unfortunate? This is a great loss," Brianna cried.

"Let's just go to the ship, perhaps we will find the answers we seek there," Visas said, her tone - for the first time - betraying a bit of her frustration at the whole situation.

Bao-Dur was the first into the Republic ship and went straight to the engine room where the brown tinted astromech droid T3 N3 stood. Atton inspected the ships computer for any messages, Visas and Mira at his shoulders, Brianna further back trying to make sense of the computer language.

As Atton continued working on the computer, Bao Dur walked in with the brown T3 N3 trailing behind. "The droid says it has a message from the General." The astromech droid rolled to the centre of the communication room, a pre recorded holo image of Harlan Keito Villik - the Exile, materializing from the droids projector.

"_If you receive this message then perhaps it is not too late, the hyperspace engine on the Republic freighter Kreia came in, is damaged, and so is the sub-light drive. And Yes! I damaged them. In a matter of hours, MALACHOR 5 will be a distant memory, and for eons to come, will become a passing foot note in galactic history."_

_"In case you are not sure as to what I mean, I've set the mass shadow generator to detonate and I'm afraid :Pause: it cannot be deactivated. So, don't waste valuable time." :Pause: _

"_You are all confused I'm sure, but if the force means for you to play a further role in the events to come, then my apprentices, by all means you should be able to survive." _

_"Secondly, the Holocrons I've taken will be kept safely away for future Sith however some will have to be destroyed, because what Nihilus and Sion learnt must remain unknown. This will ensure that no one become capable to condemn the galaxy to desolation." :Pause: _

"_If you survive, the T3 N3 unit will give you the code for the message I've saved on the ship's computer. Farewell my apprentice and may the force be with you." _

"Is what he's said true? Is it impossible to deactivate the mass shadow generator?" Visas asked Bao-Dur.

The Zabrak for the first time openly showed his distress, "Yes, you cannot bypass the countdown protection program once the timer is activated."

Bao-Dur turned and run to the engine room, the rest following closely. The hyperspace engine was spitting sparks, and had an easily audible clicking sound. Bao-Dur became deathly pale.

"I'd need more than a few hours with this, if I'm to make it serviceable," Bao-Dur mentioned.

"I'll help with the sub-light drives," Atton said.

"What do we know about the actual amount of time we have?" Mira asked the Zabrak.

"It can be checked through the last console he used to activate the generator, and that could be from any four of the crushed republic ships on the surface level." Bao-Dur replied, all the while pre-occupied with the engine's wiring.

"I'll go look for the consoles with you Mira; we can split up, find the counter and comm. the ship with the info," Brianna offered.

The two sprinted out, leaving Visas behind in the main hold, where she paced impatiently.

"Bao-Dur, doesn't your remote help you with your work? Where is it?"

Bao-Dur was startled by Visas' question, he looked around the engine room, _how could I have forgotten about Remote?_ It wasn't around, just then a large black domed droid hovered into the engine room.

"G0-T0! Help me with a few fuse components. And have you seen Remote around." G0-T0 surprisingly, only whistled in reply.

"What! Remote! How can that be?" Bao Dur exclaimed.

"He transferred your system to G0-T0's body! What about G0-T0?" The droid answered by simple whistling again.

"G0-T0 is now using your body? Did G0-T0 consent to the swap?" The black domed shape explained the events with longer flutelike remarks.

"He was shutdown?" The remote made a short sound in the positive. "I'm sure. I would've loved to be witness to that. You know, having a big, black orb following me around will take some getting used to: maybe I'll make you, your old body." The Remote made a long winded complaint that bordered on a shriek.

"You prefer this!" Bao-Dur asked, pointing at the large the Remote's new black casing." The droid answered with a softer sound.

"We'll talk about this later, I've got an H.S. engine to fix."

After sometime the Comlink in the main hold crackled to life with Mira's voice.

"You wouldn't want to know how much time we have," Mira remarked.

"Go on!" Visas urged.

"45 minutes and counting."

Less than an hour later the rumblings of a desperate Malachor 5, were answered by the whine of an engine as the lone functioning ship on the desolate planet began to rise up, off the ground.

"I did what I could with the sub-light engines let's hope it'll take us over the gravity well." Atton informed the crew.

Visas sat to his right as co-pilot.

"Alright, this is no Ebon Hawk, so here goes nothing," Atton said.

Mira was behind Atton on the third sit in the cockpit while the rest of the crew was strapped tensely, on the chairs of the main hold. Atton maneuvered the light freighter into to a heaven-bound spiral after avoiding a boulder that would have spectacularly ended their escape. The force was with him and he could sense the Miraluka's unflinching focus as she sent subtle telepathic warnings to the pilot every time they flew towards a falling rock.

The ship ascended very slowly as it came to the edge of the gravity sphere. Atton and crew could sense the drain on the patched up sub-drives, and prayed to the force for guidance. There was only the force guiding his arms as he gradually increased the sub light drives wary all the while that, too much power on the drives and the ship gives in, and plummets to Malachor's depths.

A large rock came jutting down on the freighter on its starboard side, Atton dodged the boulder only to be faced head on with a bigger one. He pulled on the controls to avoid the massive rock and heard a scratch as it scraped the underside of the vessel. The drives had reached their limit and were beginning to jerk and stop. Atton could feel the ship beginning to lose momentum and just as the inevitable horror of descending into the Moon's core was about to be realized, the gravitational pull of the crumbling Malachor 5 eased off , and there sparkling with the lights of distant stars, was open space.


	2. Chapter 1: Darth Blivion

**Disclaimer: I don't own rights to Star Wars, nor do I intend to profit from this work of fiction.**

**Chapter 1: **

**Darth Blivion**

The interdictor cruiser _Horizon, _floated soundlessly through hyperspace and in an empty spherically-shaped room a hooded figure in simple Jedi robes sat motionless on the cold tran-parasteel floor, his legs crossed. _They survived, perhaps the Jedi have a second life after all. Such compassion I still have for them. Is it wise to carry such feelings for them? Perhaps not, but... - they weight so heavily on my conscience - it is natural in my position to want to be parted from them in spirit. Nevertheles such feelings shouldn't be avoided, denying them would be denying a part of myself, and such things can be a weakness of their own._

"_A title… to represent what you will be, once you have overcome," _Kreia's words echoed in his head. _I conquered the past, the present, and the fear of what is in the future… _

"_I ordain you…" _He had stared at Kreia with bemusement and a bit of anger.

"_Ordain! By what right do you ordain me?" _Kreia, he remembered, had not flinched at the venom in his tone. With her atrophied eyes she had looked at him as if she was looking beyond him, into memories she hadn't considered for a long time.

"_I ordain you by the right of being a former Lord of the Sith; by the authority of the Sith master I once was and, by the knowledge I posses of their legacy."_

Harlan had stared at the old lady before him; after scrutinizing her for a time he had felt emanating from her only sincerity, so he bent before her on one knee. Kreia passed her only hand over his head before resting it on Harlan's right shoulder.

"_I ordain you Darth Blivion, Lord of the Sith." _He rose to his feet and breathed deeply.

"_I will take this name, but only to draw myself closer to my enemies, to use what they know against them." _Kreia had grinned at him briefly,_ "You are learning the importance of titles, and how they can be an effective shroud against those you choose to remain hidden from. No student I've taught before you ever used this lesson." _

_And so it is my apprentices, that you will not find your master, for the Jedi Exile known as Harlan Keito is no more._

"We've just got out of hyperspace, my Lord," the room's comm. speaker sounded. Lord Blivion, from his sitting position telekinetically touched the comm. button next to the speaker.

"I'm on my way."

Darth Blivion walked up to the bridge through the med bay, where one of the ship's crew was checking on the ships log. On approach, the med officer stiffened and saluted his superior. He reached the bridge, to find his pilot standing legs abreast behind the pilot seats looking out at Telos' orbital station,

The pilot was one of eleven former Republic officers that he had inherited along with the ship. When he had taken the ship and found them inside, they had told him with all the confidence they could muster that it was profitable for him to utilize there skills and expertise rather than kill them. They had told him that they had served Sion and Nihilus' understudies and were used to the cruelties associated with serving Sith Lords.

Blivion had rolled his eyes and merely told them: _"If you don't work hard when asked to; follow instructions when given, and decide to give me that pathetic loyalty you so willingly showed to the Republic after the Mandalorian wars, then know that I will not waste any time with cruelties as your other masters did, I will simply break you."_

"Essien," Lord Blivion called. The pilot turned around and approached him.

"Have they detected us?"

"No my Lord, as long as we stay a safe distance outside the range of their sensors, we should remain undetected," the pilot answered.

"Good, instruct your colleague in the docking bay to make ready the shuttle."

"I'll do that right away, my Lord."

Blivion looked at the orbital station for a moment before turning to the Essien's co-pilot.

"Take the ship on a tangent, further west from the orbital station."

The co-pilot did as he was instructed. Blivion satisfied with the progress at the bridge walked off to the maintenance room, to look for his droids.

In the maintenance room he found the ship's tech specialist working on weapon modifications for the HK unit's rifle. The G0-T0 droid, now in the remotes body hovered over HK 47.

"I trust everything has been readied."

The tech stopped fumbling with the rifle and handed it over to the HK droid. "Yes my Lord Blivion, everything is as you asked, the HK's paint job is finished," Blivion had obviously noticed the HK unit's new metallic silver appearance, "and the shuttle has been fitted with the cloaking device placements we received from the remote droid."

"Well done. G0-T0, 47 lets go."

Lord Blivion fitted himself in the pilot's sit and did a quick study of the shuttle's controls. The T3 unit had been in the shuttle when he arrived, busying itself by running basic diagnostics on the ship's systems. The _Horizon's_ docking hatch was opened and Blivion piloted the shuttle into space.

The descent to the Telosian surface was smooth and without any problems. They landed gently over an expansive field of grass, where cannoks were roaming a short distance away. Blivion asked the T3 unit for a reading of the atmosphere and was given feedback that it was safe.

"Alright, we've landed in roughly the same area we crash landed last time we were here; the abandoned base should be a few clicks from our current position."

"Query: Forgive me for being presumptuous Master. But if what you've deduced is correct, then how safe from detection will the operations you want to carry at the base be." Blivion smiled at the HK droid, and then looked at G0-T0.

"I'm sure you've already calculated your role in all of this G0-T0. That's the reason for G0-T0' presence in our party, he'll aid the carrier ships with his cloaking technology." HK 47 was about to speak when Blivion raised his hand to stop him.

"Whatever queries you have, save them for later. Now what we'll do is split into two groups, T3 and HK you'll scout along a north western route from our current position, while G0-T0 and I will go north. With T3's sensors you should be able to end up near the abandoned military base."

The shuttles exit rump was opened to reveal a green lush savanna, with a clear blue sky overhead. Blivion drew the fresh cool air to his lungs, before bounding of on a jog with G0T0 close behind, T3 and 47 moving to their left. They had been moving for quite a while when they spotted a sentry droid hovering some 500 meters from there position, using his binoculars Blivion spotted two men; one a red skinned male Twilek, the other a fair skinned human.

"Alright, there's a Czerka base not far from here, I'm guessing the two are salvagers in the employ of Czerka. The sentry droid should provide little problems for a droid puppeteer."

He turned to face G0-T0. "And your small size in this case should give you ample cover to get rid of the droid carefully and quietly."

"Is that the only advantage of my inadequate size: camouflage?" G0-T0 asked, with a slight hint of derision in his voice.

Blivion didn't react to G0-T0's disgruntlement, this time but merely smiled at the once independent droid.

"One of the many," he said, "but being inconspicuous increases your effectiveness, it doesn't reduce it. Now, busy yourself with eliminating the lookout." G0-T0 focused his sensory device on Lord Blivion for a moment, before turning to begin the task stalk the sentry. "I'll do better than eliminate it Master, I'll make it an ally."

It had been easy enough to sneak up on the droid, neutralize its motor functions with an ion blast, and then recalibrate its command protocols. But G0T0 knew better than to turn the sentry droid on its former masters, as they were likely (even as salvagers), to retaliate and probably destroy the droid before it had chance to land an incapacitating blaster shot. So G0T0 went back to his Sith master to receive instructions on how they'll proceed from here.

"You did that as quietly as I expected, you would not have been able execute that operation as silently without the advantage - in this case – of being small," Blivion commented.

"I understand the reasoning behind my re…sizing, but I'm not convinced it affected my effectiveness as a highly sophisticated piece of machinery," G0T0 responded at length.

"Your reservations are not my concern droid," he returned to his surveillance, "The two are more than salvagers, they're geologists."

Blivion was monitoring them again with his binoculars. "I'll go around on their flank and ambush them from behind; your job will be to get the sentry droid to distract them at the vital moment while I make my move." With that, Blivion moved quickly as he crouched his way through the tall grass.

Maras was looking at the data pad of the mineral readings from the G 4 droid, when he heard it make its familiar whistling which meant it had detected something. The slim, human geologist noticed the droids head rise from its soil inspections to look straight ahead. It was the sentry droid approaching them, probably on its usual patrol run. The sentry droid, strangely enough, came right up to hover next Maras. He asked the droid if it had anything interesting to report, but it merely hovered there without making a sound.

Maras turned to look at his red skinned Twilek assistant, "Filk what do you think is wrong with the sentry droid?"

Filk had been busy marking the spots on the ground they had already inspected, he afforded a short glance at the sentry droid in his squatting position before turning back to do his recordings, "Use your data pad and do a diagnostic."

Maris wasn't ready for what came next, the sentry droid moved away from him when he tried to access its controls, before attacking him with its two blasters set on stun. He was still conscious enough to get his own field survival gun out of his belt holster, when a concussive blow landed on the back of his head, blanketing his consciousness with black. The Twilek had been given the same treatment by Blivion, he was lying face down and unconscious a few steps behind where Maras himself had been laid out.

"I think I'll just about fit into his uniform," Blivion said, even as he wore the geologist's Czerka outfit, "a bit small but it'll do. Now, we've wasted enough time, let's head to the base."

Outside the military complex was a whole task force of mercenaries, all well equipped with body armor and powerful blaster rifles. And in an energy cell next to a computer console, Blivion spotted what looked like two droids in containment. The silver coloured amalgam of battle droid and protocol schematics that was HK 47, and the tin shaped astromech unit T3 M4.

"This should be interesting," Blivion said after surveying the situation. "Unfortunately this situation unlike the previous one we encountered, will require that I use more of my…..skills."

Blivion had counted eight sentient; two at the entrance of the encampment, two behind that group, one next to a tent near the console area one at the console itself and two more standing in front of the magnetically sealed doors of the under ground complex. Blivion leaped across the gap in the rocky wall that surrounded the abandoned garrison. He moved with the super human speed afforded to him by the force and then leaped down off the rugged rocky bulwark, to land some meters behind the pair of mercenaries second closest to the entrance.

A crippling force grip caught both mercenaries sending their broken bodies sinking to the ground without a sound. Their colleagues standing at the entrance of the abandoned site didn't appear to have noticed Blivion. The Sith Lord made a sweeping hand gesture and the entrance guards got hurled bodily onto the rock faces in opposite directions. Their deaths were instantaneous, the power of the telekinetic energy causing their bones to shatter on impact with the unyielding stone.

Blivion strode casually towards the computer console, where the droids were kept captive in force cages. The Merc standing next to the tent collapsed to the ground as if he had been caught between two colliding Bontha's. The armed man guarding the droids leveled his blaster rifle at the lone human in Czerka uniform walking towards him. Jurndi wasn't known for being the sharpest tool in the box, but he knew the human had done something to make his friend Sirsho faint or die.

"Don't move man, what did you do to Sirsho?"

The question had been unnecessary, Jurdi found himself; being lifted of the ground, by what felt like an invisible giant hand, his weapon dropping out of his grasp, and then as suddenly as he had been lifted in the air, the invisible hand spiked him head-first into the hard concrete floor.

His team mates outside the underground base entrance weren't any luckier, with weapons trained on their enemy, they pressed their triggers at the instant Jurndi began levitating in response to the strange intruder's hand signal, but their weapons didn't fire. They looked down at their rifles, surprised to see the barrels of their blasters were knurled and twisted. They didn't have time to do anything else though, as they were made to ram into each other with such momentum; it was as if they were pulverized by a rancor's clapping hands.

Blivion surveyed the mayhem he had wrought before keying the energy release for the droid's prison.

"Statement: I have seen a lot of impressive feats of strength by Jedi, but none quite like this, Master. This was beyond little Jedi mind tricks; this was a power of a level only a select few force sensitive meat bags could hope to match."

Blivion looked at the droid as if he wanted to admonish him.

"Clarification: I'm merely trying to express my relief at having fallen into your service, Master. It is an honor to be serving you" Blivion shook his head slightly, before fiddling with the console: a short time later the heavy magnetic doors to the base slid open. He walked down the mini rump of the console platform towards the doors, before turning to his mechanical servants, "Come my droids, we have an army to build."


	3. Chapter 2: Tools of Shadows

**Disclaimer: I don't own rights to Star Wars, nor do I intend to profit from this work of fiction.**

**Chapter 2:**

**The Tools of Shadows**

"What is it you intend to do here, my Master?" the remote droid asked.

"T3 and 47 will go in first, if the assassin droids have security cameras or sensors of any kind; they won't issue any security alerts if the 47 unit walks in with T3 in tow," Blivion explained, "in other words, HK 47 is a precautionary tool in our little operation."

"What about the astromech droid?" G0-T0 asked.

"T3 will act as my eyes and ears, so to speak. I'll make my way into the factory after getting feed back on security systems at the entrance."

Blivion folded his arms as he watched T3 M4 working on the security terminal - he had figured - led to the HK droid factory.

"Everything outside of that will come down to resourcefulness," he added.

T3 bleeped signifying he was done with tunneling the security door.

"You know what needs to be done?" T3 sounded a positive.

"Then get to it and 47, remember that the self preservation programming is still in place, don't act out of the expected protocol."

The two droids stepped into a dark corridor, down whose aisle was a cylindrical camera attached seemingly to the ceiling. T3 relayed information of the entrance layout over to Blivion.

"Try and find a computer or a station that'll shut down the surveillance for the entrance," the Dark Lord advised.

* * *

The robotic tandem continued on, 47 activating the gate at the end of hallway by pressing a key pad adjacent to it.

Inside, the two droids walked down a corridor floor that was inclined downward toward what looked like a large room. Through the room they were greeted by a large hangar with several, uniformly parked capital class vessels. They looked around and found that the hangar control room could be seen overhanging the dock which – from what they could observe – seemed empty. They passed through the hangar and arrived in the factory proper. It was filled with crane-like machines, mechanical hands and large conveyor belts that resembled many assembly plants. T3 sped through looking for some kind of terminal he could log onto.

"Warning: I would advise that you traverse through cautiously short one, I don't want to have to tell the Master that your circuits got fried by an energy bolt from a turret." T3 whistled at the assassin unit.

"Explication: I don't care for your experience in "tough" situations. If we encounter one of those… impostors I wouldn't be able to destroy them. That… is the only reason I suggest caution."

They turned past a conveyor aisle and to their right they spotted a series of deactivated droids in containment capsules.

HK 47 stopped in his tracks, "Statement: there they are, the cheap copies!"

T3 rolled towards the capsules, and inspected the droids keenly with his sensory probes. It whistled at 47. "Deduction: So they are still operational, this explains a lot." T3 sounded a question.

"Explanation: It means that they are activated based on certain criteria. Their activations may be triggered by the deactivation of one unit or perhaps a timed automated program here in the factory, what matters is that we….," adopting a sonorous voice, "I mean you can do with them whatever you please." T3 communicated in another bleep before moving to a computer near the occupied capsules.

In the terminal, was information on the next expected activation, a large series of security commands and information on the security terminal, there was also something about large scale, space-worthy ship building platforms, in a facility a level below them. The underground complex spurned many kilometers and seemed to have been built several years ago.

* * *

T3 commed Blivion his report, "I assume you've also found where the HK droid control terminal is?" T3 beeped an affirmative.

"Good, stay put," Blivion responded, as he shut down the comm.

"What has the astromech unit found Master?" G0-T0 asked

"He said he's at the droid control terminal; he's cancelled the HK 50's assassination protocols, he couldn't tell which ones involved my termination and/or capture so he cancelled them all, this however doesn't affect the droids that are not in the factory at present" Blivion explained to G0T0.

"What bothers me Master, as I'm sure it bothers you equally, is the question of who created these HK droids?" G0-T0 confided, hesitating for moment before continuing, "as to the reason why, that is easy to deduce."

"Yes, the reason for their creation is simple enough to assume; they were built to disrupt the Republic's recovery efforts by sabotaging negotiations that would bring stability to the Republic: from peace talks, to trading disputes," he shook his head, "even the fact that they chased after me seems strange but sensible - in light of their primary protocols - but I'm surprised you haven't calculated the possible identities of their creators."

G0-T0 circled Blivion for a short while and then replied, "You think this has something to do with the Sith?" Blivion nodded showing a slight grin, "Yes."

Blivion walked deliberately through the entrance hallway of the factory. Making small mental notes on any discarded equipment or perhaps hidden features T3 hadn't identified.

"It seems plausible Master, but it isn't congruent with what I know of them, it seems too subtle a methodology for their kind: at least for Malak's Sith," G0-T0 said.

"Maybe, when you consider Malak's brutish attacks on Telos and Taris, but there's something_…_."

Blivion clutched his chin, receding into his thoughts._This has __something to do with the Sith of that civil war, perhaps a faction working independently of Malak and his short sighted approach_. "Master?" G0-T0 called, affecting a gentler tone than was usual to his voice. Lord Blivion returned his attention to the droid, regarding him with a scrutinizing look. _You! A droid! Machine that you are, show concern for me! Ha ha ha_: he laughed in his mind, _Your concern is nothing more than an illusion, mere behavioral algorithms.._

"Whoever they are, I believe the answers await us inside the factory," Blivion finally said to his droid, as he made his way through the droid factory.

It was a relief for G0-T0 that he didn't have to fight his way through a series of battle droids or security placements.

"This factory… I'm surprised that the HK's didn't see the reason for installing any sort of effective security,' G0-T0 pointed out.

"Don't be too certain, there is still a lot of ground to cover before we secure the entire facility," Darth Blivion said.

They moved into the assembly room to find HK 47 and T3 by a computer terminal. T3 whined, while he operated the computer.

"Question: Strange energy readings? Where's their source?" T3 spun his interface probe in the terminal slot before replying.

"Frustrated remark: this is what you're useful for and you can't find it."

"What is it?" Blivion asked.

"Explanation: Master, the astromech unit found some energy anomalies as he attempted to make a sensory sweep of the factory through the terminal.

"And?" Blivion asked a little impatiently.

"Conclusion: He says he can'tidentifythe precise location of the source, Master."

The former Jedi walked over to T3, "Which sectors?"

The astromech beamed a vague holo projection of the underground lay out and whistled a description of the areas with the energy fluctuations.

"I'm certain we'll find something of interest in these places. T3, you stay at the terminal and comm. us, if you detect anything significant, you two," looking at 47 and G0-T0, "are coming with me."

* * *

The three travelled past a door in the north east of the terminal. They walked into a room that was illuminated by flickering light-blue bulbs. In the room, there was a transparent wall through which a store room could be seen; deactivated droids littered on its floor.

Further on they entered an office that had broken terminals and altar-shaped work stations that looked to have been forcibly ripped apart. Past the office they came to a corridor that had window panes on one side that provided a view to the rest of the factory. Whether it was upwards or down wards, the two floors above them or the several below them: all the levels had the same architectural structure. Following the rectangular perimeter - of what they assumed were the office departments - they came upon one of the building's turbo lifts.

"Suggestion: I wonder Master, if we shouldn't just take the stairs?" 47 said.

"Nonsense, this is much quicker and I'm sure it'll be perfectly safe," Blivion encouraged.

"Considering what we've seen so far I don't disagree with the assassin," G0-T0 remarked.

"The assassin doesn't have the benefit of knowing the force," Blivion replied.

The dark lord touched the descending turbo lift button and a few seconds later the lift door opened for the three explorers. Blivion entered the lift without hesitating; the droids however, seemed a little less willing.

"You know you'll enter this lift one way or another: it is better that you do it willingly."

The two looked at each other and moved through the open doors, without another complaint.

The factory sub level was dusty, cold and most evident of all, dark; what little light was there, consisted of small light bulbs that illuminated the floor. A man and a mechanical assassin walked down the giant hallway followed closely by a hovering spherical droid. HK47 was turning this way and that, his rifle armed and ready to fire at any perceived threat.

"T3, we are in the hallway right in front of the turbo lift. What direction is the disturbance from our position?" Lord Blivion spoke through his comm. unit. T3 gave a reply beeping and hooting at length.

"Understood, over and out. He says the energy radiations are to the right of the hallway, but there's a maze of corridors and access ways to get by before we reach our point of interest."

With that they continued their search, cautiously moving towards the nearest opening on the hallway.

"He said to turn right, this is it," Blivion said.

The corridor to the right of the hallway was narrower by half but no less dark. Walking through it required that Blivion and 47 passed through one after the other as the width of the corridor was only about adequate for two average men to stand shoulder to shoulder across it. At the end of the corridor they came upon a junction with three doors. One at the centre, two leading to opposite ends of each other.

"Observation: I think it would be advisable if we split up master, each of us to explore one access way."

"That's a perfectly sensible suggestion except…," G0T0 began to say.

Blivion, not even looking at G0T0 added, "You don't trust your bodies' functionality as concerns self defense maneuvers?" G0-T0 made no reply.

"47, you and G0-T0 will secure the left side, while I secure the right. We'll go around and secure the floor from both sides."

The path to the right opened into near absolute darkness, Blivion removed his plasma torch to improve the poor visibility. Observing the area with the scant light from the plasma torch, he recognized the room as some sought of med lab. There were metallic counters littered with test tubes, the contents of some, long since spilled over. Many glass containers were broken, giving the impression that they were broken deliberately. Deeper into the factory and the conditions were the same: dust, grime and broken equipment.

As the Former Jedi Exile walked into another technologically equipped room, he was arrested by the site of a corpse, nearly fully decomposed except for its bones. Blivion knelt by the body and found that it had clothes that looked like what might have once passed for staff uniforms. He searched the tattered remains of the clothes and found a data pad.

The Data pad read: _The experiments went out of control; we had no choice but to launch full military counter measures. What will the masters do to us?_

Blivion dropped the pad after reading it, and continued his search.

* * *

47 wasn't accustomed to exploring for the sake of exploring, because without specific instructions from his master to track down any specific threat, this is what walking through the factory was. Entering the umpteenth dark room, 47 didn't expect to meet any resistance let alone anything of interest.

"Greetings human sentient," A mechanized voice spoke.

47spun around to fire but was impeded by a minor ionic beam from inside G0-T0's body. 47 turned his rifle to the remote droid,

"Don't shoot me until you look at what you were about to destroy," G0-T0 said in his usual cool monotone.

47 looked in the direction of the strange voice. It was a protocol droid with it'sobservation sockets burned by what looked like blaster fire (that's why it thought 47 was a human sentient) and it's mechanical body looking as rusty as 47's once was.

"Slight correction: We are not human sentients protocol unit."

"Oh!" the protocol droid exclaimed, "excuse me then for my error. I am P2 P1." "Introduction: I'm HK 47, assassination unit."

"Much as I would like to indulge in these… rituals of etiquette, there is the pressing question about why you're the only functioning piece of equipment in this place?" G0-T0 chimed in at length.

"My memory unit has taken a bit of damage, but I'll relay to you the events that led to the demise of this factory as best as I can," the protocol droid paused, before continuing,

"7 years ago a group of scientist from parts unknown gathered here at the behest of a group of powerful men, known (to me) only as: The Masters."

"Do you know who these masters were?" G0-T0 interrupted impatiently.

The droid doing something strangely human shook its head to mean, no.

"I was only privy to what was said amongst the lower level employees. All I know is that they were powerful enough to have high ranking military officials answerable to them."

"What military officials?" G0-T0 asked.

"I don't know who the military personnel worked for, all I know is that the director of the project was a general of some sought…"

"Some sought? I want information, not uncalculated guesses," G0-T0 interrupted again.

"He was referred to as a general, and the people he represented were only addressed as 'The Masters'."

"That is a satisfactory explanation… for now," G0T0 informed.

"As I was telling you," P2 P1 continued, "the soldiers under his command made up the facilities security force."

"Clarification: So the facility was run by the military and not the scientist?" HK 47 queried.

"Yes, but not initially and evenso, their role mostly constituted maintaining security, everything else was done by scientist and other civilian employees…, to the best of my knowledge," P2 P1 replied.

"The Generalas the director,was said to be the only one who spoke directly to the employers…."

"Impatient request: can we skip to the part where the facility gets deserted," 47 informed.

"Certainly, it was one of the experiments, it killed a large number of the scientists and the director was forced to exercise…." The protocol unit stopped talking.

"Irritated Extrapolation: Are you broken? You're motivators are damaged aren't they or perhaps your memory core?"

G0-T0 circled the protocol droid, "Worse, it's completely shut down."

"Smug statement: A common facet of these primitive protocol models, it's hardly surprising."

G0-T0 seemed very intent on examining the deactivated droid.

"The machines motivator's and power unit have been tampered with. The punctures and burns are all deliberate," G0-T0 commented on his observations, "this unit was deactivated remotely."

"Statement: All the more reason to find the source of the astromech unit's energy readings." HK 47 said.

47 returned to the task of exploring the facility, leaving the broken down protocol droid behind, with G0-T0 flying after him. As G0-T0 began to go through a check list of observations in his memory log he was compounded with the frustration of being unable to use his logic to predict the scenarios they'd encounter in the factory, he was however able to calculate that his master was probably at home in this factory, with its many avenues for the unpredictable.

* * *

The medical bay, and the offices surrounding it were nothing more than the derelict left over of a long since abandoned project, what that project was, was difficult to guess but Darth Blivion, with every store room and office he passed was beginning to formulate a frightening picture. For the last hour he had been following a detailed but incomplete map of the area that he had found in an abandoned data pad. He was looking for the records office but the diminished map, inadequate lighting and maze like building structure was making it a slower process than he would have liked.

Glancing at his map once again, the records office was supposed to be a few metres ahead and sure enough an automated access way with the name "Records Hall" written in galactic basic materialized in front of the former Jedi. _At last,_ he thought. Walking into the room Blivion was greeted by rows of largely empty shelves. A feeling of disappointment coloured his mind but was quickly dissolved when he discovered that many a file, data pad, holo log and archive disc was scattered on the floor, a few even having been left on the shelves.

Whether the mess of a clean-out was inadvertent on the part of the former residents wasn't obvious, unless the files left behind were unimportant. Blivion secretly hoped they were in too much of a hurry to have done a thorough job. The first data pad Blivion picked up was nothing but a summary of job rotations, the next an invoice on common medical equipment and the next and the next, until Blivion felt resigned to the idea that the former occupants had cleared out any information worth a look.

Blivion decided to ferret through the small containers and cupboards and his search turned unsuccessful save for one: a medical holo recording by a disgruntled worker over an incident related to 'the project'. Blivion played the recording and the image of a 30-something-year old human male with average looks, appeared over the small holo disc.

"_The arrogance of some of the security stuff is driving me up the wall. Yesterday they thought to keep me out of lab07, sighting they had to take responsibility for some of us naïve civilians." Pause "Naïve! As if having them around hasn't brought its own problems." Pause _

_"When the director relinquished his position to this General Annar, I was skeptical. Why give the project over to the military? I asked. All I got from the old man was a half audible explanation about our benefactor's decision, and that the project must go on_." The man begins to look around suspiciously.

_"Soon after we are experimenting on humans, and then the other day_…._" _The man looks around again_, "we have this accident…, the thing is it wasn't an accident." _the man finishes whispering._ "Any way, I'm always wondering when the project will become ours again, and then I remember the former directors demeanor before he left, and it's my belief that the project will never become what it was." _

The man clears his throat before continuing_ "I'm making this holo recording in case someone…helpful comes along and finds my little compartment." "They are probably already investigating me; this might just be my last recording." _Pause_ "The latest rumour is that some of the subjects are Jee…" _The man switches off the recorder.

Blivion looked at the date of the recording; it was about 9 years ago.


End file.
